


you got me lookin' like

by davy_jones



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Pre-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 05:51:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16320314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davy_jones/pseuds/davy_jones
Summary: This wasn't what Zoro expected when he asked to pass the time.





	you got me lookin' like

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: Once upon a time, I saw a minor character and fell in love. Three years later, Hawkins' return in the manga has given me new life, which motivated me to revamp this piece I wrote back in 2015. More appreciation for the tall cornhusk of a scarecrow man.

Seeing the sword was enough for Zoro to consider Hawkins a challenge. As a pirate captain with the third highest bounty among the Eleven, that surely reflected some level of strength and threat after all. Luffy was boisterous and reckless while Kid was short tempered and violent. Basil Hawkins didn't appear to be any of those things, instead wielding a sort of elusive air that bordered on apathetic.

The incident with Bonney had been annoying and, if only for curiosity's sake, he still had some time to kill before meeting up with the crew anyway. Why pass up the opportunity while they were here?

There had to be some reason for that bounty, whether it was a misunderstanding or not. It wasn't just the itch for a fight in his blood, he told himself. It had nothing to do with what he witnessed involving the Celestial Dragon and the economic disparities of the Archipelago. No, he was simply curious.

An indifferent gaze watched him, nothing that so much harbored a hint or reaction while Zoro unsheathed his swords, one in each hand. It wasn't familiarity he noted in that blank expression, but Zoro found himself disliking it.

“Color me curious. I just wanna see somethin’," he grinned, sharp as his blades.

"You think it's interesting to challenge me for the sake of curiosity?" Hawkins didn't budge, hand still lax by his hip where his sword remained sheathed.

Zoro noted the strange pommel.

“Yeah? You must not really be that interesting then, are ya?"  
  
Hawkins didn't miss a beat, moving closer when he replied, “I don’t really care what you think.”

Zoro’s smirk deepened and absently wet his lower lip when Hawkins' gloved hand finally reached for his sword. "C'mon, show me something interesting."

“Well, I guess I'd like to see something interesting as well," Hawkins eventually said.

Zoro fell into position, preparing his own move but stopped short when the other pirate didn't draw his sword. "You gonna draw your blade?"

Whether Hawkins found amusement in that was hard to tell, although he did draw his sword from his sheath. Zoro rose a brow in disbelief at the passive stance Hawkins took afterwards.

"Seriously?"

"Are you worried about me, Roronoa?" Amusement was evident in Hawkins' voice then, even though there was not a hint of it on his face. "I'm armed. Now, if you please."

Zoro stared him down, skeptical, but there was nothing joking about the scarlet depths that returned his gaze.

As he lunged forward, blades singing through the air to slash near the other’s chest and expecting a parry, he realized why those eyes seemed so familiar. They were flat and humorless, too serious to be anything else. There was no clash of blades.

The blow landed.

Zoro looked back to see Hawkins' reaction, surprised when he saw the pirate simply laying on the ground and no change in expression to speak of after the dust had settled. It was anticlimactic.

He frowned as he moved closer for a better look; it was like Hawkins didn’t even notice the attack at all. In spite of being forced backwards to the ground from the pressure of his swords, the captain rose without so much as a single scratch, unscathed. That expression was as infuriatingly calm as ever.

“What the hell—”

He stared hard as a thick silence stretched between them. Just what kind of Devil Fruit power was that?

Elsewhere on the Archipelago, a man suddenly flew back 30 feet as pain lanced up his chest and blood sprayed from the wounds.

Hawkins didn’t react to Zoro’s exclamation, simply lifting his arm again as something more bizarre happened. Something seemed to crawl out of his arm-- straw?

The straw took the shape of a doll and fell to the ground, now motionless by Hawkins’ feet. Zoro's mind jumped into overdrive, redirecting the situation. Hawkins had redirected his attack - that was the only plausible explanation - and those dolls had something to do with it. A Devil Fruit that seemed to deflect both attacks and damage alike; it sounded unstoppable, but Zoro knew better.

Hawkins moved again, which prompted him back into position and more than ready to retaliate, but the blond simply dropped his arm. He regarded Zoro with the slightest tilt of his head. His eyes seemed to glow.

“I think I've seen what I needed to see. Hopefully it was satisfying for you,” he said, far too politely one would expect from a pirate and for that reason, Zoro found it irksome.

Hopefully it was  _satisfying?_

"I gotta say I'm disappointed, Hawkins," Zoro drawled. He didn't returned his swords to their scabbards and didn't bother to hide his scowl when Hawkins did. "That last round, if you can even call it that, left me a bit wanting."

The look that crossed Hawkins' face then was the only change in expression Zoro could find since encountering the pirate captain. He smiled. It was the faintest thing and gone in a flash, but his gaze had sharpened on it like a beacon.

"I would apologize for leaving you wanting, albeit a bit, but-" Hawkins turned to leave before he realized, leaving Zoro dumbfounded.

No, no, no. _He_ was the one who threw down the challenge, so  _he_  should have the first and last say. That was logic at its finest.

“Hey! We’re not done here.”

He could figure out the rest of Hawkins’ Devil Fruit power with more time. Zoro was close enough and wanted to keep going but more than that, Hawkins' expression annoyed him. That lack of expression-

Hawkins paused long enough in his departure, as though he was considering it, before offering Zoro one last glance.

“See you in the New World, Roronoa.”


End file.
